Welcome to the Jungle

Taman Negara" The Jungle" more like the tourist version of a jungle. Taman Negara is a huge national preserve / jungle it is the oldest rain forest in the world 180 million years old- at least that's what they say. It contains over 200 tigers, 500+ elephants (Asian), leopards, panthers, tapirs and tons and tons of insects; of course you never get to see anything because they all come out around dark and all the boat traffic and loud tourists and children frighten them off into the deepest darkest nether regions of the jungle. The only thing you see are giants spiders and some insects oh and I did see a kick A salamander.

The Jungle is not meant to be fun in fact everything housed within it is meant to kill you, seriously; The trails are rutted from to much trekking tourists that are are slippery and muddy beyond no end, the roots of trees trip you, the rocks fall out from under you, some vines and trees are spiked with sharp blood drawing thorns and spikes and the heat covers you in sweat with in 10 minutes. But I did enjoy my self once back at the hostel and in a shower (cold, there is not hot water in the Jungle-duh.) I did go on one real hike and two touristy trips. First off Jan and I went to the canopy walk and that was kinda fun except for the loads and loads of tourist waiting in line for a turn, it took us 30 minutes for ours. Also all the tourists get on the raised platform (which you could not fall off of in a million years) and walk like they are on a tight rope. The second thing we did was "rapid shooting" which was more like going up a mild river with some ripley sections all the while the boat drive splashes back and forth to get you wet. The boat driver was actually a cool kid and we spent some time getting to know him and his story. For my real, solo trek (Jan left for Thailand in the morning) I went on a 6k (round trip) hike up and over a good sized mountain, climbing hand over foot at some points and slipping through mud at others. The first km is steep and a good exhausting climb the last k was like walking through a mire of mud 4inch's deep. All that to go to a cave with bats, I did not have a guide like everyone else (you don't need one they just boat you in so you don't have to hike- Cheaters.) Whats more I completely thought I had a torch (flashlight for us Americans) turns out I was wrong. Luckily I was able to buy a head lamp and gloves from an Italian couple for like 10 bucks and did a self guided cave exploration. It was a blast the cave had a ton of bats and guano covered rocks and I even at points had to crawl on my stomach in 8 inches of water to get under rocks (there is a series of ropes going through the cave this is why you don't need a guide you just follow the ropes.) That was where I picked up my first leech, luckily he had yet to attach himself to me and I was able to flick him off.

However later that day came the most rewarding experience I have had so far on this trip. I was asked by a Malaysian guide and school teacher to talk to part of his class in English so they could put what they have learned into practise. They turned out to be about 15 Muslim school girls all about the age of 16. I was asked to talk for about 30 minutes and ended up talking to them for an hour, they asked my questions and I asked them questions it was amazing to hear them say that they didn't get to talk to many "foreigners" (which took me a back remembering that here I am the foreigner, the outsider.) They asked typical question of me through one girl who seemed to be the leader of the group at first; questions like where I had been in Malaysia, what I thought, what I had eaten and things like that. Then they started to warm up and all started top pitch in with questions about the U.S my family, friends, habits back home, what I liked and so forth. I truly was honored to be able to have that experience. They couldn't stop telling me how much they enjoyed talking with me and how they were jealous of my eyes (they only have brown, and went nuts when I spoke of my dad and brother having blue eyes.) After our conversation I watched them play a school yard game involving the whole class and teachers it was really awesome, I took pictures with them and was on my way.

After that it was time to pack up and leave the jungle. 3 Brits (Laura, Emily, Rachel) and myself bored a hour and half local bus to a town where we would catch the 2 am sleeper train to Singapore On the bus ride we watched a huge storm cloud spit lightning over the wilds of Malaysia through the darkening dusky sky. The train ride however was not the greatest, hard to sleep it made a stop like every hour or two, but we got to Singapora(local name) and it is a gorgeous, clean, friendly and green city much different than K.L. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED Malaysia I urge everyone to go, it's a glorious country steeped in culture, sights, and things to go out and do. GO GO GO. I'm in Singapore until Saturday when I fly to Sumatra where i don't know if I will find the net but keep checking hope to have 2 weeks worth of pictures up soon. Love you guys!